Issues sorted out to make India a hub for printing sector: Soni

NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni has said that all issues relating to problems being faced by the print industry, including the issue of advertisements from the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, are being sorted so that the country can become a hub for the printing sector.

Soni said the magazine segment was expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.8 per cent by 2015 and the country already had over 77,000 registered publications including magazines in various languages.

Addressing the 38th World Magazine Congress here, Soni said the niche magazine segment is presently seeing an influx of international titles in the country and "this trend can only continue". 

"The liberalisation of our print media policy has not only attracted FDI, it has also given a growth perspective to the magazine industry in India. Currently permission for 260 Indian editions of foreign specialty magazines has been given."

She said review of the print media policy of 1955 when a bar was put on foreign-owned publications and in 2002 and 2005 by the government had paved the way for the "spurt" in the magazine sector.

Concerns of Indian magazines on issues like circulation figures, paper pricing and enhanced advertisement support from DAVP would be resolved soon.

The Ministry is trying to streamline the mechanism to address concerns related to police verification for titles even as it has resolved some earlier issues.

The Minister said that the present situation in the magazine sector was "somewhat more optimistic" than two years earlier when the World Congress had met in London. The way forward for the sector was to "innovate, adapt and expand".